<p>A lot of CC threads target high achieving kids, and CC also has a thread for parents of kids with 3.0 to 3.3 GPA and a thread for parents of B+ kids, but I cant find a thread for parents of kids between a B+ and an A-. I know there are a lot of parents with kids in this range. The "Under 3.6 (GPA) Applying Top 20 Parents Thread was specifically created to work on the applying top 20 goal, and not generic enough. So, I'm creating this thread and ask parents of kids with GPA above 3.3 and under 3.7 to join this thread to work through our college preparation and application issues for our kids and provide support to each other. If your kids GPA is a tad outside this range, feel free to join too.</p>
<p>Thanks PCP for starting this thread. My DS fits in perfectly here I think. His GPA is right at 3.3 with no AP’s yet, so hopefully the W will be higher next year. High test scores. He is currently a sophmore and just starting to think about colleges. He attends a top 50 prep school in CA. We will be going on our first of many college tours to the PNW this April. He is looking at Lewis & Clark, Whitman, Reed(although I think Reed is too rigorous for him I think he will LOVE the student body and atmosphere), and University of Oregon. I will post visits of all when we return. He thinks he wants a small school with unpretentious and outdoorsy student body. A school that would have intellectual students but not cut- throat, more laid-back. I’m making him look at UO because he has never seen a big school and I want him to be sure before he rules it out. Won’t even look at schools in CA. Anyway, looking forward to the process, which is more complicated in my S’s circumstance… i.e. high test scores, not so high grades.</p>
<p>Welcome aboard 5boys! My S1 is graduating this year, but I have three more in the pipeline, two of them in high school now with GPA’s that fit this thread.</p>
<p>We could create a long long thread for “S with high test scores not so high grades,” I’m sure. Sign me up!</p>
<p>I commented a few times on the under 3.6 and applying to top 20. Now DS has been accepted at some 2 and 3rd tier schools and we are now waiting on those reaches. This is a good time to reflect on this process and what comes next.</p>
<p>I am more convinced that the struggle is not so much to get them into a school (if they have decent test scores, the odd c or two and plethora of Bs doesn’t seem to hold them back in admission to the big state schools). The problem now, for me, is how to turn the lessons of the application season into successful transition into college (wherever they end up)–I would like to see 10 years of underachievement grade-wise because “bored” and “unchallenged” turn into focused energy in college and excitement in major of choice. How do we prevent a kid from making underachievement a lifetime habit without squelching the nice, laid back character of these same sons. I say sons because I notice no girls so far…I am sure some will join soon…</p>
<p>I’ve got girls! Second time around with a freshman all settled and happy and now in full search mode with D2. Just returned from a 7 schools in 5 day trip back east as D fine tunes what she’s looking for in a school. She’s a junior with about a 3.45 uw but just a handful of honors/APs so it’s not that much higher weighted. If the PSAT is any indicator, she’ll have strong SAT scores but we’ll see how things go after the March SAT. Originally thought she wanted a big public school but now finds she’s attracted to smaller rural schools! School spirit and sports are important to her and I’ll follow this thread with interest–thanks for starting it!</p>
<p>5boys, also take a look at Colorado College. Fits your criteria.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys…Colorado College is actually #1 on his radar right now. We won’t visit until next year though. Doing the PNW in April because we are combining trip to grandparents. I think that he will fall hopelessly in love with Colorado College, everything I have read or heard about it sounds like a perfect fit for my S. I know he would excel in the block plan too.</p>
<p>Hi. Wish this thread was here last fall! My D has a WGPA of about 3.6. Puts her class rank at 39/470, but ACT only 26. Didn’t submit SAT (the ACT equivalent was higher). She is very well rounded with ECs (sports, religion, clubs, educational travel). So far, she’s done well, with acceptances at UConn, Towson, URI (merit scholarship), UAlbany, UBuffalo and a deferral to Spring at Maryland (huge achievement, but she wishes she got in for Fall, was a top choice). Still waiting for American, Binghamton and Delaware. I think it will come down to Binghamton or Delaware, but we won’t know till end of March/early April.</p>
<p>What I learned: Go for it! Aim for the highest schools possible! While my D has two schools that are kind of reach-y, she already kind-of got in to one (Maryland). She will be thrilled if she gets in to Delaware… but, looking back, I wish she had tried some other more challenging schools. We were not encouraged by GC, despite my constant pleadings – “what schools are we missing???” I think D even has a chance at Binghamton (according to our school’s Naviance), but I think GC thinks we are crazy for even applying.</p>
<p>While you don’t feel like a high achiever here on CC, a 3.3-3.6 GPA is above average. You can get into a ton of schools if you have that GPA and all the other bells and whistles (scores, EC’s, decent essay and recs).</p>
<p>Next time around, even though my S is more academic than my D, we are going to go for it. Reach for the stars. Include matches and safeties, but put yourself out there. You may be pleasantly surprised!</p>
<p>I’ll join with my DS who will also be graduating this year… unless I kill him first! He’s spending waaay too much time playing games and not enough time studying! He has been accepted into two instate and two OOS schools- one offering 13K and one 15K per year. he’s also in the high test scores, so-so grades category. But hey- according to him- he knows how to study- he just hasn’t done it yet.</p>
<p>Lessons learned for us- he has one semester to prove he CAN study, otherwise it’s off to study skills class this summer (or even this spring if I can find one!).</p>
<p>Plus next year, I will be adding a DD to the mix- another one who is academically lazy… She finally made A-B honor roll this semester. Not because she had to work for it- but because she felt like it (her words).</p>
<p>When someone figures out what to do with these kids, they should patent it- they could make a fortune…</p>
<p>As part of the other 3.6 thread, I’ll recap here:
S2: 91 unweighted, 97 weighted, if you removed orchestra classes 87 unweighted. He had a lot of B-'s in Latin, B+'s in English and a B- in chemistry as a freshman. OTOH he had a pretty demanding schedule - honors classes just about wherever they existed, one AP sophomore year, two junior year and he’s taking AP Calc BC, AP Physics C and AP Euro this year. He got 5’s on all his AP tests taken so far. His SAT1 scores are CR 790, Math 690, W 670 and SAT 2s he has 790 in US History and over 700 in Biology and Lit. To my surprise his grades put him just off the top 5% of the class and we were encouraged to aim higher than I expected. He had some interesting EC’s outside of the usual school stuff - making and selling origami earrings and doing some archiving work for the local neighborhood association which led to a very good essay, I thought.</p>
<p>He found a safety he loved (American) and the rest of the list is pretty reachy. (Two Ivies, Tufts, Georgetown SFS, Vassar and Chicago.) He wrote some really good essays and to our surprise (including his) he got into Chicago EA. The rest won’t be letting us know for a while yet, but so far it seems okay. </p>
<p>As for the question of whether he’ll be okay in college - I’m pretty optimistic. He’s more focused this year, his writing has improved by leaps and bounds and I feel like he’s really matured. He’s still getting some B’s (Physics C is hard!), but he’s learning a lot and his GPA has actually been inching upward. He plays plenty of video games, but OTOH I don’t nag him about homework or scheduling.</p>
<p>Signing on…I’ve been a happy contributor to the 3.0-3.3 thread for the past year, but my son has turned it around academically and he’s now looking at a 3.4 (could even be a 3.5 by the time he graduates, if he can keep senioritis at bay). Like many here, he has better scores than grades, due to organizational issues that he has gradually learned to work with/against/around.</p>
<p>I love the idea of focusing this thread not only on helping our kids find the right college and get into it, but also on helping them make the transition to college life in a way that plays to their strengths (fineartsmajormom, you really said this nicely).</p>
<p>Anyway, isn’t class rank as important – or more – than a strict GPA calculation? In our school, a 3.5 uw puts you in the top 10%, so I trust Naviance more than what I read on this website in terms of “chances.”</p>
<p>I am happy to report that my S is already accepted to two schools that are perfect fits, and so any other acceptances will just add to the happy problem of having to choose one school.</p>
<p>It is very funny to be here as a “B” parent (be it 3.0 or 3.6). We have friends who would be dancing in the streets if their kids had a healthy B average. If the kid has B’s, good friends, a happy attitude and some passions being pursued, then the world is their oyster. Easy to forget here at CC!</p>
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<p>Right on! That’s the spirit. Good reminder on including matches and safeties while we reach for the stars.</p>
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<p>nightchef, you must share with us how your son turned it around!</p>
<p>Fair or unfair, small differences in GPA really matters. My S has a 3.4 UW and a 3.8 W but is BELOW the top 20% at his school because there is a cadre of really hardworking kids taking sometimes less AP/IB classes than S but doing all their homework, studying, etc. WHat I learned this year of applications is that my son missed out on MANY scholarship and honors college opportunities because of his GPA and class rank. A really high SAT was not sufficient for many schools to qualify for aid or honors. I don’t know if having this knowledge ahead of time would have changed the grade outcomes, but I may have limited the IB/AP classes and some of the ECs. Ironically he won a full ride Presidential scholarship at state school based on his art and probably essay but doesn’t qualify for honors which merely asks for a 3.5 GPA UW and 1900 SAT where he has a 2250! No, they don’t take the really high score into account and his 3.47 UW GPA with **13 **AP/IB classes means he has to register for classes with the masses and live in the crappy dorms. The up side is that with all 4s and 5s he will be a sophmore right off the bat.</p>
<p>My DD is 3 years behind DS and has almost all the same classes and many of the same teachers her freshman year but has a 4.0 and works HARD! while DS in his freshman year seemed never to crack a book and pulled a 3.3. I will support her taking a rigorous courseload but not the crazy one that DS took his junior and senior years. Too many Bs at this school will put you out of the all important top 10%.</p>
<p>Yes, mine has “climbed” into the 3.4/5 UW range since mid-year junior year when I “joined” the other thread. I jump back and forth to see how everyone is doing. It’s great to see them keep “steaming” ahead. It bodes well and something I would rather see than major seniorities due to “burnout.” The journey is just beginning not ending.</p>
<p>“According to him he knows how to study, he just hasn’t done it yet” LOL!!! I think this is a DS affliction. I can’t tell you how many times I have nagged to my DS that he needs to study more if he wants to get A’s, as he’s on the computer rolling eyes at me… according to my DS, he already knows it all and that’s that… next time I ask about the test he says, " oh yeah, about that, I got a B. urgh!!! Like Chuckledoodle said, someone should figure out what to do with these kids and bottle it.</p>
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I think it was mostly just a matter of growing up, with some good luck thrown in. His grade woes were largely about not managing his time well, and once he had dug himself a hole, he had an unfortunate tendency to freak out and give up. Sometimes he would even do self-punishing things like refusing to take advantage of opportunities to make up assignments or earn extra credit because he didn’t feel he had earned them. By this time last year, his self-confidence as a student had fallen very low.</p>
<p>Then three good things happened: he took the SATs and got scores (750/720/760) that were hard to spin negatively; he won a musical competition that earned him a lot of positive attention and affirmed all the work he had put into his music; and he started going out with a high-achieving girl who liked to do study dates. (His previous girlfriends had not been helpful on this front.)</p>
<p>I think he might have been starting to turn it around even before any of these things happened, but they didn’t hurt. Anyway, in the second half of last year, his approach to school took a sharp turn for the better, with a more positive, practical attitude and more efficient use of time. The result is that he has gone from under 3.1 at midyear last year to 3.2 at the end of the year and 3.4 at midyear this year.</p>
<p>nightchef, thanks for sharing! A string of success will definitely boost confidence. I think we parents sometime may even have to engineer a string of success for our kids to boost their confidence. Oh, and definitely keep that gf of his!</p>